Ballet dancers head to New York City for national competition

Friday

Apr 7, 2017 at 2:48 PMApr 7, 2017 at 5:05 PM

Mary Whitfill The Patriot Ledger thelittlewreck

HANOVER – Olivia Hansen is only 15 years old, but she already knows what she wants to do with the rest of her life. The ballet dancer knows she wants to stand on pointe and be on a stage for as long as she can, and is already taking big steps to make it happen.

The Cohasset High School student won’t return to school after this year and will instead switch to online classes so she can spend eight hours a day at South Shore Ballet Theatre in Hanover, where she and a select few others are on a pre-professional track.

“I can’t see myself doing anything else,” she said. “When I’m on stage, I know all the sweat and tears – and there have been tears – were worth it. It all pays off when everyone sees all our hard work and appreciates it.”

Olivia will dance on her biggest stage yet this weekend when she and 10 other dancers compete in the finals of the Youth America Grand Prix in New York City. Eleven dancers will compete in the large ensemble category Saturday night at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.

South Shore Ballet Theatre competed in the Grand Prix semifinals in March and qualified for finals for the first time. Under the instruction of guest teacher Nilas Martins, a former principal dancer at New York City Ballet, the ensemble has been rehearsing a five-minute excerpt from the ballet “Napoli” for almost six months. The piece is a August Bournonville ballet.

"The skill level is quite high because there is a very particular style you have to master to be able do this,” Artistic Director, Marthavan McKeon said. “Its very much a time-dated piece. It has a particular style that is known for ... very specific port de bras and very quick footwork.”

In addition to dancing in the group piece, Olivia, Grace Campbell, of Duxbury, and Anna Murray, of Norwell, placed top 24 at semifinals for their solos.

“South Shore Ballet Theatre has never gone this far in a competition,” Grace, 15, said. “This will be something we’ve never done before and it’ll be really good to get that experience.”

All three girls will be on the pre-professional track next year, where they will dance for what McKeon estimates is 30 to 35 hours per week. The girls will take at least four classes per day – ballet technique, pointe, variation and pas de deux – as well as additional practice for solos and group performances.

“Sometimes they have more than one technique class each day, and that’s really the language of ballet,” said Alyssa Igo, faculty member and former New York City Ballet dancer. “Each step works individual small and large muscle groups, and each step is a building block.”

Anna is only 13 years old, and has opted for the afternoon version of the pre-professional track. She will dance about 20 hours per week instead of the other girls’ 35, but wanted to have a chance to attend her freshman year at Norwell High School.

“They live it; they breathe it and they give in to it,” said Mary Plansky, Murray’s mother. “It’s so hard, but there is something about learning at a young age to be focused and dedicated to a craft.”

The performers will take the stage between 6:15 and 7:45 p.m. Saturday night. The dance will be live streamed for free on www.yagp.org.

“I hope they get to see that they’ve really come farther than they ever thought they could. They have quite a bit of potential,” McKeon said. “I want to them to be inspired and remember why they love to dance.”

Awards will be given at a ceremony next Friday. The ensemble is made up of Grace, Olivia and Anna; Lydia Leech, 14, and Tessa Bertino, 18, of Duxbury; Caroline Connelly, 14, of Quincy; Jenna Eisenmann, 13, of Pembroke; Madelyn Galante, 15, of Marshfield; Emma Huggins, 14, of Scituate; Sophia Ricci, 14, of Kingston and Juliet Brown, 18, of Norwell.